Who's a clever bird?: Could real life Claude the Crow be Adelaide's winning omen?
Crows fans who know and love the Adelaide Football Club's match day mascot Claude the Crow can now marvel at the real thing.
His real life namesake is trained to catch footies in full flight and put them through the goals, thanks to a bird handler on Adelaide's Kangaroo Island.
Raptor Domain is one of the island’s top tourist attractions, with Dave Irwin and his team rehabilitating injured and orphaned birds who then dazzle spectators with their aerial antics.
Until now the raptor repertoire has involved falcons, owls and eagles, but Mr Irwin's team is working on a secret weapon in Claude the Crow.
Kyle Wiggins and his mate Claude have been training the house down.
It's been raining goals as this winged wonder takes Mitch McGovern-like speccies and mops up from Claude's pocket after wayward passes from his handler.
But all this begs the question - why?
“One day we thought, for a bit of fun we'd get him a footy, being a crow and all. And it sort of went from there really,” Mr Irwin told 7 News.
Claude's keeping a lid on things now as he prepares to watch the big game. But he should have the last word on his team's chances in the days ahead.
